Electronic Cigarettes

I was sitting around the fire pit the other night with neighbors when one of them pulled out an electronic cigarette. These things are amazing. It looks like a cigarette, hits like a cigarette, tastes like a cigarette, and you get your nicotine fix. They are small self-contained electric devices that you "smoke" just like a cigarette. When you exhale it even looks like smoke, but it's actually just water vapor. They come with re-chargeable batteries and nicotine cartridges. I'm ordering one on payday as at work I can't smoke anywhere on their property. These are completrely legal to use anywhere smoking is banned (although they look so real you'll have some explaining to do if you try it). I can get my fix, but without the harmful effects of actually smoking. If interested, do a google search and you'll find several different manufacturers. The one I tried and have decided to go with is Smoke 51.

LIFE.............is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - WOW - What A Ride!

Actually, they contain diethylene glycol. In an FDA study conducted in 2009 they found only negligable trace amounts of this, and only in only one catridge tested. The FDA permits .02% DEP in food addatives. If there would have been harmful amounts found, the FDA would have been obligated to announce this. I find this allot like the thujone in absinthe situation. The amount of thujone is so small as to be ALMOSt non-existent. We all know only an idiot would quaff down a bottle of wormwood extract or oil. This can cause renal failure. Same with DEP. A miniscule amount is not harmful, but you wouldn't want to drink a bottle of it either.

LIFE.............is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming - WOW - What A Ride!

Look on the list of ingredients. The majority of the suspension is propylene glycol. If you're referencing FDA studies, the reason why they mention diethylene glycol is because that's what they tested for. They didn't test for propylene glycol since it's considered 'safe' as a food additive.

We used it last year, cut with water, in our liquid cooling system for the high voltage x-ray generation tubes. Funny thing, the military folks wouldn't allow it in the shipping container with the rest of our gear, and required it be sent in a separate hazmat shipping container. Another WHOLE 20ft shipping container with one lonely cardboard box containing two bottles of the stuff.

Every hour is green hour. -Hedonmonkey

Sometimes bad just gets so bad that it breaks thru to the other side and becomes good. - Phoenix

I'm really hoping a well-tested, safe product becomes available but not because I want one. Smoking is frequently required in theatre production however smoking is banned in all public buildings. This would be very cool.

I got one for a friend of mine who is very partial to nicotine. He really liked it because he could smoke indoors without smoking up the place. Not a bad choice if you want a discreet nicotine pick-me-up.

It gets right into you bloodstream folks; into every part of your body. PG is bad stuff, and this is just BS to make money off you while pulling a fast one on people who think they're doing something healthier. Hell, it's even bad in sunblock and other cosmetics, as it is absorbed directly though your skin. I think we all know that lab testing is nonsense, and often with hidden/fixed results; just look at what Searle did with Nutra-sweet when all the rats developed brain cancer and nobody found out about until AFTER they sold the patent to another company, and the FDA STILL didn't pull the product. Trust your common sense, not the testing results.

I agree, when the science is sound and honest. There's good scientific results, and the kind that are paid for. Then there's the kind where the results are different even if the same tests/research is run the same way with the same protocols, with the same products. (Sounds a bit like thujone testing to me). This can be due to faulty gear, control elements, or human error/blinking/yawning at the wrong moment. A woman smarter than me (to whom I'm married) is an ex-chemist who performed such testing for a very large company, on products containing propylene glycol. She won't allow anything containing it (designed to touch humans) in the house! (Especially for the kids).

I have friends who are smokers that recently discovered e-cigarettes. They've gone digital, and all but given up analog. They have purchased many flavors, including absinthe, to refill their e-cigarette cartridges.

I have never smoked a cigarette, nor had the desire to try one, but I couldn't resist giving the absinthe flavored e-cigarette a try. Rather enjoyable, but not really a substitute for the real thing. I still prefer to drink my absinthe!

Second-hand vapor is certainly preferable to second-hand smoke!

Does Minnalouche know that his absintheWill pass from change to changeAs emerald clouds to opal,And yet nothing will change?

My favorite story from my sons' trip to Asia is the one about the psychedelic party they had in a hotel in Kyoto. E-cigs, a bit of whiskey, Hendrix music .... apparently quite a different atmosphere compared to real smokes, much more pleasant.

I've been using them for the last couple months, and by this point I actually prefer it to a tobacco cigarette. It's not as harsh on my lungs and I don't stink like I've been in a back alley dive bar all night.

The only down side-- the flavor in the cartridge doesn't seem to last very long. But hey--- this is at a FRACTION of the cost of a pack of cigarettes. (pound for pound as the saying goes).

I've noticed a few misconceptions in this thread, and hopefully I'm not stepping on any toes here.

Regarding PG (propylene glycol), it was used in hospital HVAC systems for years to sterilize the air, it's a potent antibacterial agent when used in an areosol form. It is used as a carrier for medicine that does not disolve easily in a saline solution. It is also the primary ingredient in all inhaled athsma medication (used as a carrier).

PG is also found in regular cigarettes and when burned, creates acrolin, which is some seriously nasty stuff.

the cig-a-like's (like blu's) are hardly top of the line e cigs. Some of the premium e-cigs, called advanced personal vaporizers (APV's) sell for $300 and up.

No matter how bad e-cigs might be for someone in the long run, we know there are over 4000 chemicals in cigarettes compared to the 4 or 5 in e-cigarettes. Cigarettes have a 25% mortality rate. Whatever gets you off of the smokes is the best brand of e-cigarette for you.